Photo: Engbretson, Eric / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Pylodictis olivaris

How to catch Flathead catfish

Flathead catfish feed in 55–92°F water and bite best at 72–86°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 29 waters; in October they are at their peak in Nebraska fresh water, Iowa fresh water, Illinois fresh water and 3 more.

30 pts · trophy at 40"Feeds 55–92°FBest 72–86°FIn season nowRiverReservoirLakeBridge

About

The predator catfish: yellow-brown, flat-headed, sixty pounds in the log jams of the Panhandle rivers, and it only eats live fish. The trophy of the river catfish anglers.

How to fish it

A live bream on a heavy rod tight to a log jam or an undercut bank at night. Patience, and then hold on.

What it eats

live bream and shinerslive bullheads

Live bait for it

NightcrawlersWhole on a #6 to #2 hook under a bobber or on a bottom rig; threaded on a spinner harness drifted for walleye. The bait that catches everything in fresh water.

Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.